Staff stories

We are carers.

We are specialists.

We are colleagues.

We are friends.

We are a team.

We are a community.

We are always teaching.

We are always learning.

We are committed to professional development.

We are here for everyone.

We are nurses.

We are Guy's and St Thomas'.

We are Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

I'm a paediatric intensive care nurse. I started in intensive care with the intention of doing a year and said this would be great for my CV, do a year and then off I go, and it was just one opportunity after another. I've been here now eight years, every time I thought, oh I think I need a little break maybe I'll step away, there's been something else to step into and it's been wonderful.

It's been a good learning curve and again I thought, what's next, and they said well there's a retrieval service that we run and now you've done your course you can become a retrieval nurse. For about four years I've been doing that. I absolutely love it.

I think working with children can be very challenging and looking after families is an extension of your role, very much a team effort and we all feel the losses but you learn that you're trying your best for every patient and family that comes to the Evelina. One of the strengths of the Evelina London is that the senior staff are really there for their staff and particularly from a nursing point of view and looking after one another and making sure that we're okay in a very stressful and difficult environment, that we do take the time to look after ourselves and that we make sure that we're out on time and we're okay.

Working here there is always career progression and development and people want to invest in you and that is what every nurse wants I think. The support that I've had was amazing and career progression is phenomenal. I can't imagine working anywhere else.

This has been my journey at Evelina London, part of Guy's and St Thomas'. When will you start yours?

I'm the paediatric placement development facilitator within the Trust. I didn't think I wanted to work in a children's hospital but there was an open day advertised in Evelina London Children's Hospital and, I thought, well I might as well go for it. I walked into the hospital and completely fell in love with it and knew I wanted to work here. I've been here for nine years now in a few different roles and it was just the atmosphere, everything about it just made me think yep, this is a good place this is where I want to work.

I was a ward sister on Mountain Ward prior to doing this role and then I was sitting in an update and I heard about this current job and I thought that is for me, that is what I want, and have now been in the role for nearly five years.

Evelina London Children's Hospital is unique because children helped to design it. They wanted things like rocket lifts, they didn't want it to feel like a hospital basically. Children were very much of the focus of the hospital when it was built and that is still the focus now.

The clinical education team where I work is quite a small team. We're a team of mainly nurses and a midwife helping to support the student nurses and midwives in the Trust.

It's really lovely to be able to see them grow and develop and some students that I've worked with in the past, I now see them as clinical nurse specialists, as ward sisters, so I've been able to see that real progression with them.

I think the support that is offered is really fabulous. I think people very much want to make you reach your potential and work out how they can do that. There are the different perks working at Guy's and St Thomas'. We've got our own Thomas Guy Club on-site as well where there's a gym, swimming pool, and a bar, so we don't even have to go far to then be able to meet with our colleagues and just have a laugh as well as having worked hard together too.

My advice would be to get rid of any of the presumptions or assumptions that you have and just come in, see it fresh and hopefully be wowed like I was when I walked in too.

This has been my journey at Evelina London, part of Guy's and St Thomas'. When will your journey begin?